


Look Over

by Vialana



Series: Hope [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coda, Episode 2x08, Light Angst, M/M, Pining Lance (Voltron), Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 16:11:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10834731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vialana/pseuds/Vialana
Summary: Lance is finding it difficult to hide that he’s falling for Keith. (Un)Luckily, Shiro is the only one who seems to have noticed.





	Look Over

**Author's Note:**

> So, while I know episode codas for 2x08 have been done by many others, this story serves more as a sort of launching point for a short post-season 2 series I'll be posting. Kind of angsty, a little introspective, lots of pining Lance.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it.

The minute Red started attacking, the bottom of Lance's stomach dropped. It hadn’t happened often, but everyone left behind in the castle while Shiro and Keith went on their potential suicide mission to the Blade of Marmora base understood exactly what Red's sudden rampage meant.

“Allura?” Lance couldn’t help turning to the princess, desperate for another explanation.

She didn’t even glance at him as she said, “Everyone stay focused.” She was completely intent on watching the display in front of them. They all were.

Hunk hadn’t moved since he asked about the attack, barely seeming to breathe as he watched. Pidge’s perpetual typing had paused, her hands trembling. Coran was doing his best to finish the calculations that would allow them to break through the defences to reach the base.

Lance forced a smile that felt like a frozen scream. “I'm sure he—they’re—fine. It's Keith. He can handle anything.”

Allura did turn to him then, perhaps surprised by his certainty. She nodded then turned back to the screen.

At least Hunk was breathing properly again, even if he was shooting Lance a strange look. But Lance couldn’t focus on figuring out what Hunk was thinking. He was too busy trying not to let his heart beat out of his chest.

Keith would be fine. He always was.

 

* * *

 

It had to be a joke, what Shiro was telling them.

Any second now Keith would laugh, pointing and asking how any of them could believe anything so ridiculous. Shiro would join him. Lance could smile along and admit to getting played but Pidge would take it as a challenge. Cue the most epic Voltron prank war possibly ever.

But Keith wasn’t laughing.

He was bruised and bloody and so pale. He hunched in on himself, injured or bracing himself. His gaze was fixed on the floor as though afraid of their reactions.

This was not a joke.

“No.”

Allura’s pronouncement echoed through the silent control room. Lance almost jumped at the sound of the sharp word.

But Keith … He actually flinched at the sound of the princess’ rejection.

“Princess … Allura——” Shiro stepped away from Keith to reach for her, as though to explain.

Allura stepped back, turning, without meeting anyone's gaze, to rush out of the room.

Shiro stared after her, hand still reaching.

Coran cleared his throat and gently pushed Shiro’s hand down. “Give her some time. This is something of a shock, to be fair.” He glanced once at Keith then looked away with a cough. “Perhaps it would be best if I talked with her.”

Coran didn’t wait for Shiro’s nod before he was rushing out the same way as Allura, not looking at Keith as he passed.

The situation was so far from a joke that Lance could barely breathe through the tension thickening the air. He couldn’t even imagine how Keith was feeling.

Shiro looked lost, glancing at Keith while still trying to keep a brave facade for the others. Hunk was twisting his fingers together in a familiar anxious manner and inching ever so slowly towards the door. Pidge just stared, without blinking, at Keith, stance ready as though unconsciously waiting for him to attack.

Keith still couldn’t look at any of them; his hands were clenched at his sides, and he looked haunted, almost near tears.

And Lance … honestly, he was just glad Keith made it back alive after that show Red put on.

Keith looked exactly the same, barring a few scratches and bruises. No purple skin or fluffy ears or heightened rage issues (though to be fair, Keith hovered around 3 on a 10 scale on his calm days). So, yeah, maybe this wasn’t a joke, but it also wasn’t the world-ending pronouncement everyone else seemed to think it was.

(Lance didn’t want to admit, even to himself, that the sight of Keith near tears wiped away even the vaguest thought that his newly discovered heritage changed anything about him or his relationships with the team. Lance rationalised it to himself that the mood was just too tense to deal with and it was his solemn duty to lighten things up if he wanted to get a restful guilt-free sleep tonight. Lance had become quite adept at rationalising his actions regarding Keith recently.)

“I'm actually not surprised,” Lance said, drawing everyone’s attention to him.

His nonchalant expression and easy posture helped both Pidge and Hunk ease up as they unconsciously mimicked his attitude and stance. Keith stared at him, unblinking, still tense and ready for the worst. But Shiro angled himself toward Lance, hesitantly open to what he was suggesting.

Lance shrugged, keeping up the calm act. “With the way our lives have been going lately, one of us was bound to turn out to be an alien or a secret prince or something. And, while I'm sure Pidge is bitterly disappointed——”

“Hey!”

“——it makes total sense that the secret alien in our midst turned out to be the weirdo who ran off into the desert to chase after a magic lion.”

Lance laid out his, admittedly rather nonsensical, argument with a wide flourishing gesture to finish. He faced Keith head on with a steady stare and open arms and was, thankfully, not disappointed.

“You have a psychic bond with that lion, how are you still making fun of me for that?” Keith’s arms were still at his sides but his hands were loose and he was glaring at Lance the same way he did yesterday and the day before—the same way he had been ever since they met. His voice was rough with suppressed emotion, but that familiar indignant tone he got whenever Lance scored a hit slid through the cracks.

Lance grinned, glad to see his plan was working. “Because it's still hilarious, even moreso now.”

“You're unbelievable.” Keith rolled his eyes, but that hollow look that appeared when Allura turned and left the room without a word was now gone.

Everyone else seemed to be getting over the initial shock of the announcement now too. Pidge was staring curiously, rather than fearfully, and Hunk was poking at Keith’s bruises with a concerned frown. Lance considered his conversational derailment a success.

Only Shiro, standing back behind Keith, silently declaring his support, seemed to realise exactly what Lance had done. He stared at Lance with raised eyebrows and a knowing half-smile. Lance could practically see Shiro re-evaluating everything he’d ever thought about Lance and how Lance felt about Keith and turned away before Shiro could reach the accurate conclusion.

(So maybe Lance wasn’t as good at lying to himself as he thought. The sight of Keith’s tiny hopeful smile was worth every embarrassingly emotional inquiry that Shiro was bound to ask.)

 

* * *

 

It was after the plan to take down Zarkon had been finalised that Shiro found Lance alone in the training room. He at least had the decency to wait until Lance had taken down the last of his moving targets before ending the training sequence and jumping right into the feelings conversation.

“So … Keith, huh.”

Lance, halfway out of his chest armour, turned to Shiro with a horrified expression. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

Shiro shrugged, not even a little embarrassed. “Do you really want to suffer through small talk when we both know why I'm here?”

“You could have a least started like, ‘Nice shooting Lance, you're really coming along. By the way, I wanted to talk to you about earlier.’”

Shiro raised his eyebrow in a way that suggested he wasn't amused but really secretly was. Lance could tell. Especially when it was obvious Shiro was internally laughing _at_ him, not _because of_ him. “Nice shooting Lance, you're really coming along. By the way, I wanted to talk to you about earlier.” His deadpan delivery matched his judgmental eyebrow perfectly. Lance was as impressed as he was annoyed.

Lance finished taking off his boots and shook his head. “Nope. Too late. You ruined it. Now you've gotta face the penalty.” He reached down and grabbed his armour, heading out of the training room towards the bathroom. “I am not going to be the only one embarrassed here. If we're doing this, I'm gonna take a shower.”

“Seriously?” Shiro followed him into the wide tiled room that acted as a locker room and stopped at the threshold by the chest high wall separating the shower stalls from the rest of the room.

Lance dumped his armour by the bench and cubicle he'd claimed as his own and grabbed his towel before heading into the nearest stall.

“We're having this conversation, Lance.” Shiro had to raise his voice to be heard over the running water.

“Not trying to avoid it. This is just… easier.” And weirdly, despite the fact that he was naked and about to bare his soul to his team leader, it really was easy. He couldn’t see Shiro, could only hear his voice. And the water was soothing on his aching muscles. If he tried hard, he could pretend he was just talking to himself like he often did in the shower.

Shiro seemed to get it. “Okay.” He let the silence linger for a minute before clearing his throat. “I really did mean to start this conversation better.”

Lance could manage a laugh now that his heart rate was back within a somewhat normal range. “I get it. You're like super awkward sometimes.”

“Thanks.” Shiro’s sarcasm startled another laugh from Lance. Maybe this wasn’t going to be completely terrible. “Look, Lance. This sort of thing can happen.”

“Thing?”

“Crushes. We're in a very intimate environment and under constant threat. The bonds we have with each other are strong and, for the immediate moment, the most important ones in our lives. It's completely normal.”

Suddenly, the water didn’t seem so soothing. More like suffocating.

Lance turned the shower off, despite the fact he hadn’t washed his hair like he'd intended. “Despite what you may think, I know what a crush feels like. I've even had relationships before.”

Shiro huffed, frustrated by Lance's continuous derailments. “I'm not trying to be disparaging. I just want you to understand that the situation might be different here.”

“What exactly do you think I'm expecting?” Lance emerged from the cubicle to grab his towel hanging over the wall. Shiro seemed surprised by the glare Lance shot him before he started drying his hair. “You think I’m going to lose focus? I’ll be distracted?”

Shiro hesitated and Lance scoffed. He wrapped his towel around his waist before stepping back into the locker section.

“Wow.” Lance pulled out his clothing. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” He turned around and started getting dressed into his casual gear.

Shiro almost growled in frustration. “Now I see how Keith gets dragged into stupid arguments so easily.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Lance. “You know this isn’t what I mean. I’m just concerned.”

“About Keith.”

“Yes.” Lance flinched, hands faltering on the button of his jeans. Shiro’s eyes widened as he realised how that could be taken. “And you. And the team dynamics.”

Lance tugged on his shirt and pulled his jacket on then sat down on the bench to lace up his shoes. He was silent and focused on his task, refusing to look at Shiro while he gathered the courage to speak. “You say that as though I have a shot. Or that I’m even going to make a move.”

Shiro’s arms fell to his sides and he took a step forward. Lance’s tone was too even, too quiet. “What do you mean?”

Lance sighed, finished with his shoes and unable to find something else to distract him from answering. “I just wanted to see him smile.”

Shiro inhaled. “Lance …”

Lance looked away, standing up and kicking his heels on the floor. “If you could just assume that’s the only motivation—hell, the only expectation—I have, it would be greatly appreciated. We can both go on pretending this conversation never had to happen.” He stretched his arms over his head in a wide loop and finally turned to look at Shiro again, a fake smile plastered on his face. “Now, I’m gonna get some shut eye. After all, we’ve got a big mission in the morning.”

Shiro started to say something but stopped, taking in the way Lance stood at his full height instead of slouching his shoulders like he normally did. It was a battle stance. Lance’s hands weren’t quite twitching towards his bayard but he was holding himself tense enough to react to anything Shiro might say or do.

Instead of pushing, Shiro nodded and backed down, matching Lance’s grin with a tight smile of his own. “You’re right. We should get some sleep.” Shiro pushed away from the wall and walked towards the door. “I’ll see you in the morning, Lance.”

Lance nodded, watching him walk away. Just before Shiro reached the door though, Lance called out to him. “Shiro, wait.”

Shiro looked over his shoulder.

Lance hated leaving things on a sour note, especially when he knew he was being defensive and Shiro just was trying to help—even if he kept fumbling. “After the mission—after Zarkon—when we can both focus properly, maybe we could talk then?”

Shiro smiled, bright and happy and honest. “That sounds really good.”

“Great.” Lance nodded and smiled at Shiro’s dorky wave.

Once he was alone in the locker room, Lance exhaled and slumped back down on the bench.

“That could have gone better.”

 

* * *

 

Lance was looking forward to sleep, even if he wasn't looking forward to having to get up earlier to fix his hair. Shiro’s well intended chat had majorly disrupted Lance's beauty routine. Greasy hair would just irritate him on the mission tomorrow and he'd take it out on everyone else and then Shiro really would have cause to worry that Lance got too easily distracted on missions.

He was so focused on planning his schedule for the morning that he almost ran into Keith hovering in the hallway outside Lance's door. Luckily, Keith was paying attention and managed to grab Lance before they collided.

“Keith!” Lance’s voice came out too high. He did his best to calm his heartbeat, but the sudden appearance of the red paladin along with his emphatically positive reaction to the firm hold on his arms made that a little difficult. “You were waiting for me?”

Keith blinked, as though he were were the one surprised by Lance’s sudden appearance. Nevermind that he’d staked out Lance’s _room_ and was holding onto the blue paladin as though afraid to let him out of his sight.

“Yes,” he said, finally, after a pause that almost went on too long. He let go of Lance’s arms and took a step back so the two of them weren’t practically breathing each other’s air. “I, uh, wanted to talk to you alone … to thank you.”

Lance blinked. “What?”

Keith looked away, blushing, but he continued explaining. “For before—for not freaking out about the Galra thing. I know it was kind of a shock but you were actually really decent. I'm sorry I didn't say it right away. I was kind of … overwhelmed.”

Lance didn’t know if he’d ever felt worse about receiving gratitude before—hell, he hadn’t even known it was possible before this moment.

“Don’t thank me for acting like a human being. I know we don’t always get along but I trust you to have my back. You finding out about your heritage does nothing to change that. So, you know, thank me when I’ve actually done something worth it.”

Keith had turned to look at Lance while he was talking, his eyes wide and a surprised expression on his face. It vanished when Lance looked into his eyes and Keith’s jaw tightened as he stood up straighter.

“Well, then, thank you for making me feel better.”

Lance almost denied his gratitude again, but he took in the determined look on Keith’s face, softened by the flush of red on his cheekbones. This was so atypical of their usual interactions, yet the sincerity felt natural. Lance’s heart kept beating faster as he watched Keith.

“You’re welcome,” he said, realising how much his joking words actually meant to Keith now, how much he’d needed a nonchalant reaction, how awful having to expose such a potentially damning secret to his friends must have felt.

Keith nodded, relaxing, and he shot a tiny pleased smile at Lance.

Lance somehow managed to return the gesture without making an idiot of himself. It would have been so easy to slip into their usual banter, but Lance let the moment of peace linger before clearing his throat.

“We should probably get some sleep.”

“Yeah.” Keith didn’t hesitate to offer his hand. “Good luck tomorrow.”

Lance didn’t hesitate in taking Keith’s hand in a firm grip. “You too.”

Keith’s hand slid slowly from his, fingertips teasing against each other. His smile stayed even as he turned away.

Lance watched Keith walk down the hall to his room before entering his own. He ran his still tingling fingers against his lips and allowed himself a brief moment of indulgence as he recalled that tiny heartfelt smile on Keith’s face.

Tomorrow was going to be difficult, but Lance had hope they would succeed.

After everything, they all deserved some happiness.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr: [ladyvialana](https://ladyvialana.tumblr.com/)


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